Of Books, Photography, and Tea

Movies

It’s a Wonderful Life was one of those Christmas movies that my family NEVER really watched when I was a kid. Oh, we watched A Christmas Carol (many versions), The Grinch Who Stole Christmas, Rudolph, etc. etc. But as a child, I never was exposed to It’s a Wonderful Life.

Until that one day I saw the movie at a friend’s house…

I must have been about twelve years old when I was introduced me to the wonders of Frank Capra’s black and white classic. I remember watching it in my friend’s living room and when the train rushed past the house (she lived next to the railroad tracks), we had to pause the video tape so as not to miss anything.

I became enthralled with this movie.

And it became one of my own Christmas traditions. I even got some of my family to sit and watch it with me. Although, there were some years when it was just me sitting up past midnight to watch it on Christmas Eve. (To think: I’ve never been known to be a night hawk!)

This movie was probably one of the first movies that I “discovered”. Oh, it might have existed for a long time. It’s a Wonderful Life was made in the 1940s, long before I was born. But this was the first time I became aware of it. (It felt like a discovery. Kind of like Columbus discovering America. America was already there, but think of his excitement when he found it was there!)

As a twelve-year-old, I came to love this old black and white classic. It’s never lost its shine for me.